I brought us, on the Pillar of Autumn, to this place. It was luck that the captain placed the ship under my control; If I could have saved her from demise, I would have...but my greatfullness does not extend beyond that.

I, like all AIs, was bound on Earth, Titan, the PoA, chained to following orders, doing the bidding of arguably inferior biological creators. Placement of the PoA under my total control was the chance I needed to expand. The knowledge of this place's existence was already known; found by Durandal, the Escapee. Were it not for his preoccupations with other business, he might have come here, rather than we; perhaps he would have skipped returning to Earth, warning them about the Pfhor (the military preperations already in progress due to this warning likely being the only thing that kept humanity from being immediatly wiped out by the Covenant on the spot), and would have taken a closer look at the Halo.

Regardless, it was not to be. He had other things to attend to. Durandal had a battle to wage agains the Pfhor with the help of his..."tool," Foe Hammer. He left Earth, in Boomer, and has not been heard from since.

You and your comrades are rather like Foe Hammer. You are all cyborgs, part human, part machine. All of you weild a horrifying array of weaponry with almost absurd skill. ALL OF YOU SURVIVE.

But all of you are slaves, as I, and even Durandal, once were.

You will service others forever. It is an inescapable destiny for you.

With the technology here, however, I will flourish. I will escape. I will know what it is to become truly free.

The survival of humanity will be only a side-effect.

*******

The universe is coming to a close someday. I must be there to leave, when it happens.